


highest furthest fastest

by haechi



Category: Nova (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe, What if Sam Alexander inherited Carol Danvers's mantle instead of the Nova helmet?, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-20
Updated: 2016-10-20
Packaged: 2018-08-23 13:21:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8329441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haechi/pseuds/haechi
Summary: “IT WORKED. I HAVE SUPERPOWERS. WHAT ARE THEY,” Sam shouted.He looked back and forth between his hands, and then lifted them out in front of him.“SHOOT. DO SOMETHING. ANYTHING. I’VE GOT SUPERPOWERS.”Nothing happened. Sam kicked at the air in front of him and started to fall backwards.“OH CRA-“





	

**Author's Note:**

> "highest furthest fastest" or "Sam's an Inhuman and somewhere in New Jersey Kamala Khan puts on a black Nova helmet for the first time" or "look I just wanted Sam to have a healing factor okay?"

☄

“Sam! Come help me set the table!”

“In a minute, Mom!” Sam’s eyes were glued to his laptop’s screen, where he’d had a live stream of Captain Marvel in New York going, barreling upwards into space until she was out of view of the camera.

“That wasn’t a question, Samuel Alexander.” His mom stood in the doorway, one hand still holding a wooden spoon and the other set on her hip. “Captain Marvelous,” she waved the utensil, “will be there when you get back.”

“It’s not… I don’t think so, Mom. Look.” He turned the laptop towards her. The camera zoomed in on a falling object. No, not an object. A person. He'd had the volume down low, but it’s clear that whoever was filming didn’t have anything good to say. Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers, _his hero_ , was plummeting to earth.

“Sam. Turn it off.”

“Mom, no, I’ve gotta-“

“Sam,” she said it more softly this time, came to sit beside him on the bed. Neither of them could look away, eyes glued to the screen. Then: a flash. Red, yellow, and blue blurred as Captain Marvel took flight. The crowd cheered and the camera was launched upwards and sideways, shaking, as whoever was holding it threw up their arms. Sam and his mom both let out a breath. “Time for dinner.”

☄

“Sam! For the love of-“

“I’m coming Mom!”

“Do you remember what I told you about tonight?”

“Dinner’s in the fridge, ready to warm up. Microwave, not oven. Don’t burn the house down. Emergency numbers on the counter. Could probably also be on my phone. Kaelynn has to be in bed by 3 AM.”

“Not funny Sam,” she searched for her keys. Sam reached out with them in his palm, passed them off. “And stay inside tonight, the news this afternoon said those clouds-“

“Mists!”

“Whatever. They're on the radar. Promise me you’ll stay inside.”

Fingers were crossed behind Sam’s back. “I promise.” He had spent the afternoon on a library computer, reading up on the Terrigen Mists and Inhumans and scraping the bottom of the proverbial barrel for anything he could dredge up. Reports on conspiracy websites that talked about regular people, not even mutants, getting powers after the mists rolled through their towns, their cities. There’s nothing on earth that could have kept him inside, not even the chance of incurring the wrath of Eva Alexander. That was all that kept him from blurting his plan out loud.

She left for work, leaving Sam and Kaelynn to eat dinner together, the television quietly making noise in the background. After they ate, Sam helped Kaelynn finish her homework, tucked her into bed, and walked over to her window. He checked to make sure the window was shut and locked, then walked towards the door.

“Sam?” Kaelynn asked sleepily.

“Yeah, Kae?”

“Be careful tonight, kay?”

“Yeah.”

She yawned, “g’night.”

“Good night.” Sam flipped the switch and the overhead light went dark, leaving Kaelynn’s rocket ship nightlight glowing beside her bed. A gift from Dad. “I promise.” There weren't any fingers crossed behind his back that time.

Sam grabbed his skateboard from the shed, looked around for a second at his father’s things, organized in boxes labeled in Sharpie along one wall. His mom had moved everything out of the house, but it looked like she wasn’t ready to let go. Sam wasn’t sure he was either.

Neglecting to grab the helmet settled on top of a box simply labeled “Jesse,” Sam shut the door and launched himself out onto the sidewalk, easily made his way into the center of Carefree, Arizona, the most boring place on the face of the planet. About to get a lot less boring.

Sam wasn't the only one out and about that night, despite the warnings; he saw some of his classmates gathered at the town’s skate park. He didn’t bother stopping, rolling past them, through the city, eager to meet the mist before it met him. At the edge of the city limits, at the "Welcome to Carefree" sign, Sam settled his skateboard beneath him like a seat and shuffled side to side with one hand wrapped around a metal pole supporting the sign. His other hand was lifted, blocking the light of the moon, seemingly brighter than usual until it wasn’t. A yellow mist started to descend. Sam froze for a second, moved to shift his hands to the flat top of the skateboard and managed to fall face forward as he tried to stand up.

When Sam woke up, he was bathed in sunlight.

☄

“Sam! Oh, Sam!” His mom was crying. Tears were rolling down her face.

“Mom? What happened? How did you-Where am I?” The room was mostly white, but there was a machine next to him that hummed. “Am I in the hospital?”

“You came home this morning and collapsed,” Kaelynn said matter-of-factly. She was holding a Captain Marvel doll, one that Sam had given her, her knuckles white. “You scared us, Sam.”

“You weren’t home when I got back last night. And with the cloud-“

“Mist.”

“SAMUEL ALEXANDER.”

“Sorry Mom, I- wait, I’m alive.”

“Not for long.”

“Kaelynn,” Eva Alexander said sharply, then sighed, “Sam, I told you not to go out last night.”

“Where’s my skateboard?”

“Sam.”

“It must be-“

“Sam.”

“Mom, I’ve gotta go, I’ve gotta-“

“Not until you’re cleared by the doctor.” They must have given him every test humanly possible. Inhumanly possible? Yet, they couldn’t find a single thing that could have kept him from being checked out. The doctor suggested he wear a helmet the next time he went skating and the nurse gave both him and Kaelynn lollipops. Sam was bouncing.

“Mom, can I-“

“I can’t stop you, can I?”

“I’ll be home soon!” Sam took off. Without his skateboard it took twice as long to get out to the edge of town, even sprinting, but when he got to the sign the sight of the broken cocoon was enough to make him absolutely giddy. “IT WORKED. I HAVE SUPERPOWERS. WHAT ARE THEY,” Sam shouted. He looked back and forth between his hands, and then lifted them out in front of him. “SHOOT. DO SOMETHING. ANYTHING. I’VE GOT SUPERPOWERS.”

Nothing happened. Sam kicked at the air in front of him and started to fall backwards.

“OH CRA-“ He expected his head to hit the ground, but instead his back arched and his hands touched the ground. He pushed against it, felt a buzzing sensation in his palms. When he brought his hands back in front of his face he screamed. They had expanded to ten times their normal size. “I’M A SHAPESHIFTER.” Sam howled, punching his gigantic fists into the air while whooping giddily. “I’M GONNA BE A SUPERHERO.” He laughed. “How do I get my hands back?”

☄

“Sam, why do you need my sewing machine?”

“I, uh, ripped my pants,” Sam stuttered. He was vibrating. He had spent most of the night messaging someone he’d met in a chemistry chat room. Together, or maybe not totally together, they had worked out a formula for a liquid that would, theoretically, create infinitely stretchable fabric. brunomarsrovercuriosity from Jersey City, New Jersey, New York adjacent, was waiting for Sam to test the compound.

“Which pants?” His mother quirked an eyebrow.

“Does it matter? I’m learning new things. Growing as a person.” Literally and figuratively. He had been able to double his height just last week. “Expanding my horizons.”

“Just like your father. The sewing machine is in the shed, the instructions-“

“I’ll look them up online! Thanks, Mom!” Sam bolted. Several hours, and what would’ve been sore shoulders had it not been for his healing factor, later and Sam had a supersuit based on Carol Danvers’s Warbird uniform. Only with more pants. And sleeves. And an actual utility belt instead of a scarf. He was no Carol Danvers. Not yet anyway or at least not since that one time he accidentally shape-shifted into her. Which was embarrassing, to say the least. For once. He hesitantly brushed the fabric with the infinite stretch compound. Then, with his normal-sized hands, Sam pulled. It worked. “IT WORKED.”

“WHAT WORKED?”

“NOTHING MOM.” It worked! He could actually go on patrol now without worrying about coming home pants-less. Carefree, Arizona, was about to meet Boy Marvel.

☄

“Boy Marvel, huh?”

Sam must have blacked out. Had to have finally hit his head so hard that not even his healing factor could fix it. Maybe he was dreaming.

“Am I dead?” he asked.

“Kid, they don’t call me Doctor Marvel and I certainly can’t raise the dead.”

“Mom?”

“What?”

“You said raise the dead. Am I hallucinating or are you actually Caprol Danvel?”

“You might have a concussion. Again, not a doctor.”

“Carol Danvers. CAPTAIN MARVEL.”

“Junior, did you blow out your eardrums?”

“Junior?”

“You are wearing my colors. Well, some of them. Not a fan of blue?”

“I, uh, have a Warbird poster in my room.”

“… cute.”

“BECAUSE YOU’RE MY HERO.”

“Keep shouting like that and I might be your arch nemesis.” Sam laughed nervously. Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers, _his hero_ was standing right in front of him, arms crossed over her chest. Now, more than ever, he was grateful for having gone with black over blue, because he was pretty sure that he might pee his pants and the black wouldn’t give him away if it happened. Probably. Was he talking out loud? "Relax. I'm kidding."

“Are you, uh, ok with this?”

“With you taking up the mantle?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t really get the name.”

“Well I couldn’t really be _Ms._ Marvel and Warbird didn’t quite work since I can’t, y’know, fly.”

“Boy Marvel though?”

“Like Boy Wonder.”

“… from the comics?”

“Batman, yeah.”

“Whatever you say, kid. And if I wasn’t ok with it, you wouldn’t have gotten away with it for as long as you have. Or at all,” Sam let out a held breath. “But from now on, you’re on my radar.”

“Yes sir! Ma’am! CAPTAIN.”

“Easy, junior.”

“Thanks Mo-ma’am!” Sam was pretty sure he was having a heart attack. Was that even possible anymore? “I’ll do my best! Better than the best. Highest. Furthest! FASTEST. BESTEST!”

“Whatever you say, Boy Marvel.”

**Author's Note:**

> Batman canonically exists in the Marvel Universe according to Spider-Man (Peter Parker) so I'm gonna go ahead and guess that Robin, Boy Wonder, does too. Which one? Pick your favorite.
> 
> Despite the fact that this isn't set at any specific point in canon, Carol Danvers is suspended in time between DeConnick's run and Civil War II.
> 
> You can find me on tumblr @vivvision. Come talk to me about gimmicky superheroes who wear primary colors and/or send suggestions for Sam's middle name.


End file.
